I'm sorry I put Lehman Brothers out of business. And Fannie Mae. And Freddie Mac. As well as Bear Stearns. Come to think of it, since I've been trading a while, I also want to apologize for the destruction of HealthSouth, WorldCom, and Enron.

I used to think their failure was due to their own wreckless mismanagement by people paid hundreds of millions of dollars. But, assuming we live in a rational world, the cold fact of the matter is that by selling the stock of these companies, and then buying it back at a lower price, I put them out of business.

I hope that Dick from Lehman, Mr. Cox from the SEC, and all the other gentlemen (including the late, great Mr. Lay from Enron) can find it within their little black souls to forgive me. Thank you for your consideration.”

“Given that the Russians seem to own most of the UK (or at least London), it makes sense for the British authorities to adopt certain practices of their new uber-lords. And given that the Russkies, upon reaping the harvest of their serial unpleasantness towards foreigners, have simply shut their stock markets down until further notice, you know it makes sense for the FSA to simply ban all short selling of financial stocks for the next eight years.

Pretty soon, the authorities will simply delete the "sell" key off of all electronic and broker trading systems, and appropriate all red paper sell tickets that may have survived from the 1980's. Only one way for stocks to go then, baby.

Yep, all is good with the world. BUY BUY BUY!

Addendum: Apparently the NY attorney general will use the Martin Act to deal with short-sellers, er fraudsters. (Might Macro Man suggest he start with the slippery characters at Lehman NY who drained all the cash out of Lehman London on Friday night, leaving his buddies there with nothing but a pile of stationery and $80 billion worth of turds.)Big Brother is now truly watching you.

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comments:

I'm learning a very expensive trading lesson today. I didn't know that after you learn all the rules and start to do really well, tptb can pull the rug out from under you. I, too, feel like I'm gonna puke.

This is crazy. You'd think we are dealing with a 3rd world financial system here.The largest financial system in the world is being slapped together with tape and band aids.To truly fix this problem, it needs to be cleaned and rinsed thoroughly. Average Joe Blow needs to accept responsibility every time he swipes his credit card.Someone earning $45k a year needs to realize they don't "deserve" a $700k mansion.This quick-fix they are slapping together is absurd. If I was a foreign government or invester, I'd be pulling my money out and finding some other place for it. The US system has lost all credibility.Guess I will sleep soundly tonight. All the world's problems have been fixed! Thank you America!

I didn't read your post yet, all I saw is "I don't feel like posting today." I feel your pain but I saw the writing on the wall and went all cash except a small bet on BAC 32.50 calls expiring today -- 800% profit overnight.

In more on-topic-to-Financial-Ninja news . . . SMN could be had this morning at 36 . . . THIRTY-FREAKING-SIX!! If you were nimble enough.

This is a rigged market and you can't play by the rules because there are no rules. The fundamentals remain just as they were 24 and 48 hours ago. Triple digit S&P, four digit Dow 30 coming to a ticker tape near you . . . this is all a great setup for an equity, bond and FX crash sometime in October that will be the catalyst for global war and continuation of Bush/Cheney. FOUR MORE YEARS!!

Who was it that said something like, "If you only have a water pistol you may have to use it, if you have a bazooka, the more chance you won't have to use it." So is the gov't now officially "all in"? I guess they can't do much more than this.

I guess they couldn't quite get this mess past the elections.

So Bush says you shorters are going to be prosecuted, but the golden parachute CEOs still get their Cayman Island retirements?

"Progress is born of co-operation...not from governmental restraints. Expansion of government in business means that the government, in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors, is driven irresistibly...to greater and greater control."Hoover's inaugural address during the depression era.

Ben!You and Larry Kudlow agree for once:"The decision by SEC Chairman Chris Cox to ban short selling is a terrible idea. It is an encroachment on free-market principles. In extreme, the absence of short sellers would inflate stock market upturns, probably into bubbles...As much as I agree with Paulson’s new RTC-type agency, which is what I call a smart regulatory move, I disagree with Cox’s action, which is an incredibly stupid regulatory move. "

There is More: How does one hedge the writing of PUT options? By shorting the underlying stock!!

The effect is that now there will be no buyers for the stocks one cannot short.

The people who are short must eventually buy back - they did this today. The pension funds and insurance companies crowd cannot reduce risk by buying PUT's - no short sales, no PUT's written, no investment in dodgy stocks. We got clear air all the way to Zero!

Hello Ben, I think you are correct this has set us up for a market implosion of massive proportions. The "No Bid" will be the call of the day and stocks will magically got to zero in a blink of an eye.

Disclaimer

The Financial Ninja is a collection of my thoughts and opinions about current economic and market conditions. These are not buy and sell recommendations. Use your head and do your own research. This is a forum to stimulate discussion and debate.

About Me

I started trading during the tech bubble when I was still in high school. My trading has financed my education and I have since completed a BA in Economics and an MBA with a concentration in Finance. I have worked as both a proprietary equity and fixed income derivatives trader.